Renegade (The Captive Series Book 2) (28 page)

“Yes,” she agreed softly.

CHAPTER
17

“Our mother’s family was nearly as
powerful as our father’s. They were married over a thousand years
ago, the world was different then. Just as it was different a
hundred years ago, before the war started. At the time of their
marriage, superstition ruled, witches were burned, and our kind was
relegated to the shadows. Our father always chafed against that,
but he knew that to try and come out during those times would only
result in death. So he waited. He bided his time, and he married
our mother so that he would have more power, and more allies, for
when the war broke out.

“And yes, I think that he planned on
starting it even back then,” Jack said swiftly, cutting off
Braith’s question before he could ask it. “I think he planned it
for even longer than that. He stayed with our mother, continued to
have children with her. He had to keep up the pretense that he
cared for her a little more than the rest of the nobles cared for
their spouses, had to treat her well if he was going to keep her
family as an ally.

“There was no king at this time, but a
conglomerate of nobles that ran the underworld, dealt out the
rules, and meted out punishments rapidly, and with imaginative,
disgusting flare. The nobles had grouped together to wrest control,
and murder, the previous king. Before then the underworld had been
nothing but a series of civil wars that had started to decimate the
more powerful families as each king was swiftly brought down. Upon
ousting the last king, it was decided to rule as group in order to
keep the inner slaughter somewhat under control.

“Our father had to find a way to wrest
control from them if he was going to become the single, most
powerful figure again.”

“Damn!” Braith hissed.

Aria was staring wide eyed at Jack as
he spoke. Though Braith seemed to have figured out where this was
going, she still wasn’t quite sure. Her hand shook in Braith’s as
he enfolded both of his around hers. She could feel an awful
trembling working its way through her, but she could not stop it.
“If you remember father was never cruel to mother, at least not
publicly, and I have no idea what went on behind closed doors. He
did take you from her, but no one blamed him for not wanting his
son to go soft by staying with his mother. They all understood
that. So when he did turn on her, when he did accuse her of
unfaithfulness no one questioned it, everyone believed
him.”

Aria was beginning to shake; she could
feel it all the way down to the tips of her toes. She knew little
of what the world had been like before the war. She’d heard stories
of a world where humans ruled, there were libraries and schools,
and homes and buildings that reached the sky. She had thought that
most of it was a myth, stories filtered through the generations to
entertain children, and to give people something to fight for. But
listening to Jack, she had a feeling that there was so much more
that she didn’t know, and that she would never see.

No one seemed to know what had really
started the war that left the human population decimated, starving,
and just barely clinging to survival but she was beginning to
realize that it was something that she had never even begun to
fathom. Braith’s fingers stroked over her hand, trying to soothe
her, but she didn’t think she would ever be soothed
again.

“For hundreds of years he bided his
time, until he felt that the situation was becoming one that he
could control, manipulate, and use to his advantage.”

“And then he exiled her,” Braith said
softly.

“Yes.”

“And then he had her killed in order to
light the spark that started the war.”

“Her family wanted revenge; they blamed
the humans who had been set up to take the fall for her murder.
Father was able to take control of the situation, manipulating
everyone to his way. He may have exiled her under the pretenses of
faithlessness, but it was still his wife, and it was still his
daughter that had been so ruthlessly slaughtered.”

Arai gasped softly, her gaze turned
slowly toward Melinda. The beautiful woman was standing proudly,
her chin raised defiantly. She showed no sign that the fact her
father had expected her to be killed in the raid hurt her, but Aria
knew it did. No matter how much time had passed, no matter how much
she despised the father that had helped create her, Aria knew that
it still hurt her. The small flicker in her dove colored eyes
revealed this.

“They allowed him to seize the power
and rule that father had always wanted,” Braith said
softly.

“And once he took it there was no
stopping him,” Melinda murmured.

Aria shuddered, the night was warm, but
she was suddenly freezing cold. Her bones were numb; she was barely
able to stand anymore. She could feel the shock radiating from
Braith; feel the dawning realization at the depths of his father’s
treachery. “How long have you known this?” he inquired
softly.

Jack shifted; he looked slightly
uncomfortable by the amount of anger radiating from Braith. “For
certain, about sixty years. It took me awhile to gather all the
pieces of the story, and to actually believe it. I hate the man,
there’s never been any love between us, but even I didn’t want to
believe that he would have our mother killed for his own
desires.”

Braith closed his eyes for a moment.
Aria ached for him, she ached to soothe and comfort him, but this
was not the time, and it was not the place. Later, when they were
alone, she would try and take some of his hurt from him, but she
wasn’t certain that even she could help ease this treachery and
loss.

“Your family is even more screwed up
than ours,” William said softly.

Jack cocked an eyebrow at him; a sad
smile curved his mouth. “And you haven’t had the pleasure of
meeting Caleb or Natasha yet.”

William nodded slowly; his gaze
wandered to Aria. “What did you get yourself into now
sis?”

Aria managed a wan smile; William was
trying to sound light, but even his normal jovial tone fell short
in this horrendous mess. She wanted to go to William, to hug him
and the rest of her family. However, Braith wasn’t ready to let her
go just yet. “Braith.” She gently stroked his hard arm, looking to
comfort him, looking to get him to relax slightly. It did not seem
to be working.

“You know everything now Braith, you
know what was done, and you know what we believe. The question now
is; what are you going to do?” Jack asked quietly.

Braith looked slowly toward her; his
beautiful eyes were aglow in the dim room. The green in them was
bright, sharp in contrast to the hard grey. There was something in
his gaze, something so wounded and yet so strong that she felt her
insides melt. His eyes caressed her face, stroking lovingly over
her, but the steel rod of strength, of determination within his
eyes left her cold with dread. “Braith,” she breathed.

“I’m going to keep you
safe.”

She managed a small nod. “I know you
will. I have absolute faith in that Braith.”

His eyes flickered slightly, she saw
the brief moment of fear and doubt that flickered through his eyes.
“No matter what, Arianna, I am going to keep you safe.”

She swallowed heavily; her heart was
lumbering painfully in her chest. “It’s a brutal war to wage,” she
whispered. A war that he had not experienced in a hundred years; a
war that she had only lived through the horrendous consequences
of.

“It is. The results of the last war
need to be set right though.”

“People will follow you Braith,” Jack
encouraged.

Aria shot him a dark, withering look.
She knew what Braith intended, knew that she could not stop him,
but Jack did not need to make him feel as if he had to do it,
because he didn’t. She would stand by him no matter what he
decided, no matter what he wanted to do. Even if he decided he
wanted to run from here; that he wanted to grab hold of her and
never look back. That may not be her choice, but she would support
it because she supported him. It would not be her that witnessed
the worst of the coming violence, it would not be her that went
against her own family; she would not force him into that
position.

“Will they Jack?” Braith inquired
dryly.

Jack swallowed heavily as Braith
leveled him with a fierce stare. “Yes. I think you may be as strong
as father now.” Jack looked slowly toward her. Braith stiffened; he
stepped slightly in front of her. “Maybe even stronger. Many will
look to you for leadership, especially the vampires on the
outskirts, especially the ones starving under father’s
regime.”

“And the people will follow the human,”
Braith said coldly. Aria shivered at his harsh, brutal tone. “Isn’t
that right Jack?”

He nodded, swallowing heavily. “They
will.”

“Why do I feel as if I have been
manipulated into this?” he grated.

“As if anyone could have expected you
to fall in love with your blood slave,” Melinda
retorted.

“I am not a blood slave!” Arianna
snapped.

“Maybe not anymore, but you were. It’s
how all of this started after all.”

Aria glared at her. “No one saw that
coming,” Jack agreed, trying to placate everyone with his soft
tone.

“I don’t think they will follow a
vampire who fell for their blood slave,” Braith said softly,
squeezing Aria’s hand reassuringly when he said the words blood
slave. “In fact, I imagine most of them will be disgusted by
it.”

“That is one thing we will have to keep
secret,” Jack agreed. Anger and hurt bloomed through Aria’s chest
but she tilted her chin defiantly. She would have to stay strong,
she would have to accept that fact if they were going to succeed.
And for any chance of happiness they would have to succeed. “For
now it will have to look as if you have formed an alliance with the
humans and as if you are going to bring the peace and security to
the vampire race that father promised but was unable to provide.
The humans will follow as long as they are assured safety and
security, which we will give them. When this is all
over…”

“When this is all over, the two of us
will be going somewhere safe. When this is all over, we will be
left alone,” Braith interrupted sharply.

Jack was hesitant; Aria could barely
look at her family. They were staring at her with a mixture of
confusion and fear that made her ache for them. “They’ll follow you
Braith,” Melinda whispered.

His hand tightened on Aria, he kept her
slightly behind him still, unwilling to expose her to anything he
might consider a threat. “And they’ll follow Jack after, and the
humans will continue to follow one of them.” Braith waved a hand
lazily at her father and brothers.

“Yes, fine. We can work it all out
later on,” Jack assured him quickly. Ashby looked about to protest,
but Melinda rested a hand on his arm and shook her head subtly.
Aria understood that look, understood what it meant. Braith might
want to believe that they would be free if they somehow managed to
succeed, but they all understood what Braith was trying desperately
to deny. The two of them would never be free. “First things first
though.”

“Father has to come out of power, and
Caleb needs to be neutralized,” Braith said softly.

Aria squeezed his arm; she really
wanted to go to her family. He glanced down at her, the hard lines
of his face smoothing out as he smiled at her. She smiled back
before slipping swiftly past him toward her family. She was timid;
frightened of the reaction she would get from them. It was William
that stepped forward first, hugging her tightly against him. She
sighed contentedly, embracing her twin tightly as Daniel and her
father came forward.

Relief and love filled her. It was a
long, savage road they all had ahead of them, but they could do
this together. With the love of her family, with the love of
Braith, she could get through anything.

She knew that the coming war was
inevitable. Her gaze drifted slowly back to Braith. She could not
resist him. Releasing her family, she rejoined him, wrapping her
arms around his waist as she buried her head in his chest. The
coming war was inevitable; she would be giving up everything to
help wage it, including Braith. She was acutely aware of the fact
that when all of this was over, there would be little left for
them. It was him that had to rule, they all saw that already, even
if he didn’t. And as a human, she would have no place by his
side.

But she couldn’t think about that now,
there was a war to fight first.